self-sustaining space colonies in your lifetime
Are as much a dream as that "Swedish" "blonde" spending time with you, or me, IMHO.
A self-sustaining colony is going to require many megatonnes of cargo to get set up. Right now we struggle to lift a few tonnes at a time into LEO and maybe 100 tonnes per year with all launch systems aggregated.
Now transpose all that to safe delivery on the Moon, and assembly and fitting-out of a structure better than any Antarctic base and more versatile than a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (or nuclear submarine).
Right now it's science fiction.
The steps to increase heavy lift capacity are conceivable, but political will and financial support is very thin. The technology to actually survive long term on the Moon without resupply has yet to be invented.